Waking up mid surgery?!  

Him describing the condition: Panic It's incredibly rare: Calm 1 in 1000: Panic

Less than one in a thousand is WAY too much. I'm glad you can now monitor it bc holy crap

Honestly, I wasn’t afraid of dying during surgery, I was PETRIFIED of waking up during it. My nurse anesthetists were so kind and took away my fear. Then the anesthesiologist came by and introduced herself. The talk she had with me was so encouraging. These people train a decade or more just to put and keep us asleep safely

"man my liver is itchy af can you scrath there a bit" "dont worry i gotchu fam"

“less than 1 in 1000…” My brain: So, there’s a chance…

"it is very low" "So your telling me theres a chance..."

I'm glad they monitor this now. This is one of the main reasons I hope I never need surgery because this is terrifying

I woke to my doctor working on me. No pain. I looked him into the eyes. He just smiled (he was an older friendly grandpa doc) and said: "oh look whos awake. Give her a full dose again." Laughed and continued. 😅😅😅😅 It was so surreal. It felt like I woke up from a nap lol

Ok mom just one more short before surgery! The short:

To clarify, some anesthesiologists now attach electrodes on the patient’s head to monitor brain activity. Certain types of activity would indicate a patient is regaining consciousness and signal to administer more anesthetic.

I experienced this during my 1st. C-section with my first child. I was in darknes and paralyzed from head to toe and I was screaming, and no one heard me. I felt the cutting on my abdomen, I heard conversations between the doctors and nurses of how much poop were in my intestines, feeling the doctor moving my organs around and the preasure of removing my daughter from my belly. When I told my doctor and nurse everything of what I experienced and their conversations. They had asked me what did they said. It was total silence from them and they listened to everything I said. The doctor said, the reason why I wasn't fully asleep, they didn't want to put me under full anathesia, so my baby wouldn't go to asleep also; so when they pull her out, she won't be asleep. They needed my baby awake to hear how weak or strong her cries were. When I had my second child, they did local anathesia, during my C-section. You're awake, your body is totally numb from neck down and you can't feeling anything. You are totally aware of the surgery and you will hear your baby cry.

I have a massive fear of anesthesia and this just reaffirms it more, thank you

Thank you for speaking about it. My mother suffered with it in 1984, doctors didn't believe her. She is also a doctor

I’m one of those people. I have to tell the anesthesiologist that I tend to wake up during surgery so that they can monitor me a bit closer. My favorite was hearing my Dr singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”…. To my butt. 😂

This happened to me, but fortunately right after they cut me in a emergency surgery. I think it was harder to get the right anaesthesia. Being still one the surgery table, I couldnt open my eyes, I couldnt move, and very important I could not breath, because I was incubated. I thought I was going to die and talked to a higher power, and already made peace with leaving earth. After some time, a nurse noticed me, took off the intubation tube. I hyperventilated, still had no feeling of getting air. After that I couldnt talk for days because the tube damaged my vocal cords. It took months to get my body rehabilitated, and after that my PTSD started. I got more and more anxieties, bad dreams, and hyperventilated, when my body thought, it's in an alarming situation. I think you are the first one I heard describing what happened to me.

my mother woke up screaming during her hysterectomy somehow, and absolutely traumatized a nurse because they couldn't give her anymore meds to get her back to sleep at that moment, so she just kept screaming. apparently they got her back unconscious eventually because she doesnt actually remember this happening, and had to hear about it via that poor nurse apologizing profusely to her afterwards

Wait, 1 in 1,000? That's frequent enough to be terrifying! 😳

Prayers to all the ones who went threw this and doctors didnt know.

This honestly happened to me 40 years ago. I had to have my broken ankle screwed back together . The depth of pain I felt , I can still remember after all these years I couldn't tell anyone , couldn't speak, couldnt communicate in any way. A few years later I had to have the screws removed and I begged them to give me too much anesthesia even if it killed me, rather than not enough. I had my gall bladder removed years later, and again stressed I would prefer to die rather than feel that pain again. I was terrified. I was surprised how understanding the doctor was. He asked me very valid and relevant questions. Both of these times, I went to sleep and woke up afterwards. NOT DURING. I'll never EVER forget that trauma.i can remember and describe every moment of it. My family thought I'd been dreaming. I HAD NOT.

"This is what happens when you wake up during surgery" _Punches you back to sleep*_

My grandpa was a surgeon. And he told me a story where an anesthesiologist had given a guy a too low of a dose (the guy smoked pot but lied and pot increases your resistance to anesthesia.) He explained having a similar experience to this. And he told my grandpa “I thought I was going to die! I wanted to die! But whenever I heard your voice I knew I was going to be okay!”

This happened to my father. They were removing his lung. He was older and in poor health. I was 16. My father HEARD HIS DOCTORS saying, "Why the hell is this guy still alive!?" He told me that he tried to say, "For my daughter. I am still here for my daughter." But he couldn't move or speak. I wish I knew then, what I know now about anesthesia and the trauma waking up during a surgery causes!

I am tough to get down in the first place. I woke up during an angioplasty. I said Hi Doc. He glanced over at me and asked me if I were in pain. Nope, but I feel you rooting around in my heart a bit. He asked me if I could move a toe but stay still otherwise. I moved the toes on my foot only. He looked at the anesthesiologist and said, "would you kindly put Ms Moon back to sleep please." I went down again. We talked about it and he didn't deny any part of it.

Thank God for the ending that you put in there. That is such a terrifying thing, I’m really glad that we can now medicate for it

This happened to me when I was four. I got into a bad accident on a high speed watercraft due to neglect and was rushed to a hospital and immediately put under for reconstructive surgery on my face, I woke up mid surgery and could see and feel everything, all I can remember now is seeing a surgeon hovering over me with a tool very close to my face and being terrified, then hearing commotion from a couple other people in the room, one guy yelling stop and another saying "sorry buddy, you weren't supposed to see that, let's go back to bed now, okay?" Assuming that was the anesthesiologist now that I understand that a bit more, I'd really like to find him and thank him for how incredibly well he handled that, given I was four and that could have easily been a hundred times more traumatic. Still terrifying, but every time I recount that story now people tell me I'm insane and just had a bad nightmare.

I had this at the dentist after being put under for surgery. It was avaolutely terrifying. I also remember the conversation they were having about cheating on their wives. When I came out, I recited their entire conversation. The looms of complete shock on their face followed.

I like how he put a danger symbol to let us know we shouldn't wake up during surgery.

I woke up in the middle of surgery for detached retina. I was being suffocated by the plastic film on the drape they had across my face. I said I can't breathe as I was struggling to blow the plastic away from my mouth. They said, you can breathe you have a cannula in your nose. I said I've got sinus problems and can't breathe through my nose. God-damned had to fight with them to not suffocate.

I’m always hyper-aware of patient movement during surgery. The surgeon may not notice and often the anesthesiologist may not notice. I’d definitely rather be wrong than have a patient suffering in this way. I’d hope another tech would do the same for me.

This happened to my Mom. She said she woke up and could hear a woman screaming and wished she would shut up. As she was becoming aware it was her, they got her knocked out again. Yikes!

For those worried, don’t be. Anesthesia is like potion brewing, they give you something knock you out, and something to deal with the pain. The majority of the “less then 1 in a thousand cases” are either not enough sleep juice, or not enough pain juice. It takes something going extremely wrong for BOTH of these to fail, yet still leave you paralyzed. Most of the time if you do wake up, you’ll feel nothing but pressure wherever is being worked on. Edit: Whats really important is being honest and detailed in whatever your doctor asks about you. Including medicines and any medical conditions. Everything can have an effect on how much and what kind of juice you will need, and hiding things can lead to complications. However a very big contributor is anxiety, so don’t overthink things that’ll likely never happen to you. Be cautious, but don’t be scared, ultimately the doctors goal is to not have that happen.

My mom wasn’t aware or in pain but she had a moment of consciousness during her surgery as the team was talking about TV families or something like that. My mom said “the Addam’s Family!!” and freaked everybody out, then she passed right out again

My grandmother waked up while the surgery surgery it was extrem pain for her after one year he passed away and she was closer than my parents siblings and friend combined. rest in peace i never forget you

I've heard a story of this happening, one of the attending nurses noticed that the patients eyes were open and moving and then said "HOLY FUCK HE'S AWAKE!" they then pushed more anesthesia and obviously painkillers, the guy sued the hospital for that

Happened to my mum during a laser surgery. She was traumatised. Doc said they couldn't give her a regular dose of anesthesia as she was diabetic (even tho her sugar levels are extremely controlled). I believe there was a mistake they didn't want to accept, but I am no doctor. I can only imagine the pain. Thank God she made a quick recovery.

My father woke up mid lung surgery, felt agonizing pain. Thankfully the nurses were quick to up the anesthesia dosage.

My mother woke up during her C-section with me. She said not only did the epidural wear off, but she could hear, see, smell, and feel every single thing happening to her. This was after the staff incorrectly administering the epidural, not only did it wear off but she also was in unbearable screaming pain when they injected it. It’s supposed to hurt, not have you screaming loud enough for nearby wards to call in concerned. Her doctor (chronic pain) recommended an epidural for her hip pain recently and convinced her to give it one more chance. This time it was administered correctly, and she said the relief she felt when it didn’t feel like someone jabbed a railroad spike into her spine was unmatched.

You would think the heart monitor would start going crazy if that happened.

Happened to me during an oral surgery a few years ago. Now I know how it feels to have lasers slice through my gums! (Not good!) It was very scary and I barely remember the rest of that day. My family said I was a mess.

I had this happen as a 10 year old in the early 2000’s because the doctor in control of my sleep gas disregarded or had misread my chart for sleep gas tolerance so was to be given a more adult dosage of gas flow. They didn’t catch it until I woke up paralyzed and blinded in one eye due to the type of brain surgery I was under for. I was able to open my other eye with difficulty after a while and stare down that sleep gas doctor. They where shocked and I think said something to the others but couldn’t properly hear them. Stared them down until they checked a file I believe and turned up the gas valve then I passed back out after probably a few minutes. Woke up afterwards with pain like someone took a damn rubber mallet headed sledgehammer to my head and slight tingling feeling all over my body. It passed after a few moments though. Had the doctor and surgeons apologize to me and explain the doctor must have misread or was using previous knowledge of a child my size and weight without properly reading my charts. This isn’t all the details of that experience but didn’t want to gross out people that check the comments

After a severe wreck this happened to me. The flashbacks and PTSD led to a suicide attempt. I can’t tell you how terrifying it was. Worse, I was called “ an hallucinating hysteric” but I saw the doctor pause when I repeated his jokes he cracked at my expense as I was under. THANK YOU FOR ADMITTING THIS HAPPENS. I’m American and I don’t know your stance but what helped me end the nightmares, trauma and PTSD was psychiatric guided ketamine therapy. 🙏 Thank you ❤

I woke up during my adnoid removal surgery when I was about 7/8. I still remember it mostly well, I had about 3 or 4 doctors working on me at once and when I came to I immediately started screaming and had pain in the back of my mouth. The doctors talked to me very calmly and reassured me everything else was going well, and soon enough I was under again, and woke up back in my room where my mom and a nurse were chatting as the nurse was taking vitals.

This happened to me, but it was at the end of the procedure, as they were bringing me up from being under anesthesia. It is terrifying. Being completely alert but paralyzed. In complete darkness and screaming inside your head because you can't breathe. When I tried to explain to the nurses, they thought I was just being hysterical. Scared the crap out of me, no doubt.

I was intentionally awakened during my craniotomy so they could make sure they weren't taking any part of my frontal lobe that caused issues. It was the weirdest thing, you have no nerves in your brain so you can't feel anything but when they were poking around different spots and having me talk or say aloud what picture I saw on the screen in front of me there would be times where I tried to speak but I just physically couldn't until they moved the probe off of the part of my brain. I was awake for about 30 minutes then I woke up in recovery and they transferred me to the ICU for the night for monitoring.

This happened to me! I’m in therapy for it. I can’t even go to the dentist now because of this. I’m hoping to heal from it. ❤

Yeah I felt the tail end of my wisdom tooth removal. I woke up very slightly but I remember them death gripping my head and yanking on the tooth like it was a nail in a board. I felt the pain so I tried groaning really hard and then I was out again. That moment was like a freeze frame until I realized I was waking up in recovery.

Every time I've gone into surgery, I have woken up. I think the worst time was when I was getting surgery done for a vericocele ( idk if that's how you spell it,) and they went through the vein in my neck all the way down to my testie. I woke up and felt them in the center of my chest. I told the nurse I could feel where they were, and she tried to tell me that I couldn't, and then I raised my arm very slowly and pointed directly to where I felt the pain, and she freaked out; the surgeon was livid; and I just remember him yelling at the anesthesiologist to give me more medicine so I'd go back under. I fell asleep pretty quickly after that, woke up again apparently not long after and saw the surgeon throw the scalp across the room and yell, "are you fucking serious?!" The surgery was done after that. I then had to reschedule and go back, and the same damn thing happened, but this time they were able to successfully do it despite me waking up. It was the same surgeon though, and he was equally as pissed the second time around. I did warn them though that I have woken up during every surgery I've ever had, and they even gave me more medication the second time, but it didn't matter.

A friend of mine has had this happen, many years ago. She has found that therapy that includes psychotropics has helped her, guided meditation on magic mushrooms for example. There’s still a “room” in her mind where she’s been abducted by aliens and they’re operating on her but she’s learned, through meditation, to give that room a space within herself, she can even visit it and not feel frightened any more.

Bro really had to unlock a new fear

This happened to me, too, and it still upsets me 38 years later.

How elementary teachers describe high school:

I experienced the exact same thing , i was fully conscious and could feel every cut but can't even move my eyelids but thankfully it was a minor operation and at some point I lost conscious , I can't imagine how freaky it would be on a major operation

I woke up mid surgery twice. I am VERY RESISTANT to gas and other drugs that knock most people unconscious. My body treats it like a threat somehow and goes into overdrive and pump’s adrenaline to try and fight it off. The second time I was laughing and said “BOO” and the nurse screamed and slapped me. I deserved it. I baked the surgery team a large batch of brownies for finishing the surgery and not letting me die.

My unsolicited story: I woke up in the middle of my wisdom teeth being taken out. I couldn’t move, the nurse noticed bc I had tears rolling out of my eyes, bc in my head, it felt like an hour of trying to will myself off the table or say “plz put me back under!” The dentist had a hammer and chisel thing knocking it into my mouth. I couldn’t feel anything thankfully but mentally it was just like sleep paralysis if you’ve ever had that. I was internally screaming for real. So the nurse saw me crying, said “oh god David I think she’s awake.” The dentist said, “There’s no way.” And she goes “Look at her eyes and tell me I’m lying.” Then I was back out from more gas. When I woke up in recovery, I told the nurse I was awake during surgery. She immediately got the dr. I told him exactly what they said. He brought the anesthesiologist in and said tell him(w a mouth full of bloody gauze no less lol). They were all freaked out. The Dr apologized multiple times but then blamed the anesthesiologist, and then that guy blamed me and said I must have told them the wrong weight 😂 I didn’t care I was just glad I could move my body. When I had my c section I tried to drag myself off the table bc I started having a panic attack from not being able to move my body and they had to put me under with some shot. And when I had elbow surgery after a wreck I apparently was hard to put under, the dr told me they had to give me twice the normal dose I should have needed to get me to actually pass out even tho I don’t remember that, just very vivid dreams during the surgery. So maybe I’m just weird with anestesia dosing or something. But for real if you’ve ever sadly had sleep paralysis it was the same exact feeling except this time you hear and see people instead of a dark bedroom.

woke up during Open Hear surgery, was brutal, felt them, shocking my heart with those internal paddles. injected my heart with drugs (it had stopped during surgery unexpectedly) then heard a bunch of cheering (they got my heart going again) then I blacked out.. only to awaken to them closing my chest and moments later cutting it back open again due to my heart stopping.. everything this dude said is spot on. Lucky to be alive and as I understand it, they had to reverse some of the anesthesia because my heart kept stopping which is why I became conscious. Later in recovery no-one told my family so when I could talk no-one believe me and thought it was a nightmare.. after a few hours a nurse overheard me (she was in the OR) she went and told the anesthesiologist what I was saying and he came sprinting in the room to let everyone know it was not a nightmare.

It actually happened to me. They gave me the most they could. I woke up mid surgery and told them i could hear them . they freaked out.

I woke up in surgery on 1959 and i was 8 at the time. I could see the doctors and nurses standing around me and the bright lights. Could see the doctor digging around in my abdominal area. No pain but feel pressure. They noticed i was waking up and put me under again.

Heart rate would sky rocket if this happens so docs would easily know what’s up

I had an emergency D&C with cauterization to stop hemorrhaging and I woke up during the cauterizing and the smell was horrible and my eyes were not taped closed. I looked around and saw the room and as soon as I started moaning due to the burning pain the anesthesiologist started to scramble to get me back under. The smell was horrible. I will never forget that horrible experience.

I woke up in the middle of surgery, where they were going in through my mouth. I remember the panic I felt thinking I was going to die because I was drowning and hearing someone tell me repeatedly, “you're okay.” I remember thinking I wasn't okay; I'm dying. It was terrifying. Now, if a doctor even considered surgery, I tell them they have to make sure I don't wake up, and I explain what happens. I'm also a redhead, and we need more anesthesia.

Only had one major surgery (my tonsils removed) and thankfully I slept well through surgery, hands down one of the best naps I had in my life

I had it happen once when I was 14yrs old and it was the worst experience I've ever had. I couldn't see but I could hear everything and feel everything, I'll never forget the excruciating pain and thinking to myself if I could just move a finger or toe slightly or slightly move my eyelids I could let them know what was happening. Trying to move but realising your paralysed and helpless is just out right torture. I've needed a few surgeries since and made a special point of telling all my later anaesthetists about my experience and thankfully haven't had it reoccur. I was told by one it might have happened because of several factors such as my age at the time along with a low body weight of 45kg may have resulted in them giving me less ,along with him mentioning that many red heads like myself can sometimes need up to 20% more anaesthetic per body weight as apparently they're more prone to be resistant. Thankfully all since have taken me seriously unlike the doctor at the time when it happened who insisted to my parents I was just imagining it, and all since took steps to ensure it hasn't happened since. Definitely harrowing the worst is the pain with a feeling of despair and helplessness, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Something like this happened to my dad. It wasn’t surgery, but he had broken a rib and was in intense pain and they gave him something that was supposed to numb his pain and supposedly have him fall asleep (I don’t know what it was). What happened instead was that he went into a temporary comatose state where he looked asleep but could feel all the pain and hear everything.

There was a case where they gave one man the drug to paralyze him. But not the pain meds. He was awake and felt everything. When they realized this they hurriedly gave him the drug to put him under but also gave him something to make him forget. He started having fits of terror not long after. Became paranoid. And ultimately killed himself.

My experience was kind of the opposite. I woke up mid surgery, saw and heard everything but didn't feel anything.

SAW: *furiously taking down notes*

If I wake up during surgery I'll say to them like: "Becareful with my guts, you got that?" 😆

I wasn't in a surgery, but I definitely woke up during a scope into my stomach. I was 16 and a competitive fighter at the time. I tried to fight so hard to pull the scope out of my throat. Everyone kept saying be calm. But I felt like I couldn't breathe. Ihad so many people laying across me restraining me. I felt at least 4 plus people restraining me. The next time I woke up, I was in recovery, and my hand was black and blue from an emergency injection. I'm terrified of surgery now.

As someone with PTSD and trauma from many surgeries, talk to your anesthetist before surgery. Tell them you don't want to wake up and they will do everything they can to support you. I had a spinal surgery and told him "I've heard they sometimes wake you up and I have nightmares about that" so he checked the doctors didn't need to wake me up, talked to me calmly and said that, made sure I understood. Then he said it was time to sleep. They really don't want you to freak out about surgery, so just be open and honest about your fears. Good luck! My nightmares are slowly going away with psychologist intervention. You can best this.

I was getting a colonoscopy, and yep, I woke up. I guess I startled the Dr when I asked what that pink thing was (my appendix! How cool!) He was trying to get to the transverse colon, and it HURT making that U-turn! They gave me more meds and I think I went under again. They also tried to do an upper GI, but anatomy prevented it, and I would jolt every time they hit my protruding, shifted vertebrae in my neck. I do remember a nurse flinging herself across me to put more juice in the iv, lol. They gave up and went on to the colonoscopy part. Turns out it was IBS exacerbated by too much Xylitol. Whee.

Pls make a longer video of this. This is so interesting. As a nurse from Sweden i would love to know more of what vi can do today to avoid this. 🙂

thanks for not letting anyone feel like theyre in mexico

I woke up but don’t remember. My surgeon was there to fix my herniated belly button. I remember the anesthesiologist pacing back-and-forth in the hallway and looking at his watch. I went to sleep. Everything was fine. The next week I saw the surgeon for my follow up. He asked me if I remembered waking up. I’m grateful I don’t remember. Years later the same surgeon 🤍 and his team were about to give me a liver transplant. I reminded the team that I woke up before and to put me way under. All went very well ❤❤

Happened to me. When I was finally brought out of the paralyzing drugs and woke the trauma was so horrific I instantly went into seizures and for the next year and a half everytime I began falling asleep I was thrown awake from night terrors so bad of being killed in many different horrifying ways it would take up to an hour just to be calm enough to stop hyperventilating and take a deep breath. Those night terrors were soo awful as soon as I was calm enough to write I would write everything about them. It was the only way for me not to have the same dream over and over. The entire trauma of all of it has made me terrified of Drs and hospitals and sleeping

Didn’t have the pain but I became semi conscious for what I believe was about 15 seconds where I could hear the surgeons talking about how I was having an allergic reaction. Definitely was partially paralyzed and couldn’t open my eyes or speak but I was seemingly partially in control of my breathing at least so I just took some deep breaths to make myself pass back out to not complicate anything. Then I woke up post surgery and immediately was craving some ice and I couldn’t really walk for a few hours.

I am one of them , I woke up during my surgery. I was getting operated for a perineal fistula. I couldn't move it was totally dark and I felt lost and the next thing was panic , anxiety as I realized I was not able to move nor speak. I heard the surgeon saying oh her heart is going crazy and my BP shot up. Thankfully it was during the last 15 mins of the surgery as I felt them bandaging me up. Slowly I was able to gain control of the body and woke up with ear splitting scream. Giving all the doctors a heart attack. 😅 . I was comforted by the nurses 😅 and soon I feel asleep again 😊.

This happened to me during an endoscopy. They were doing a biopsy and it really hurt but I couldn't do anything or say anything. I felt like I was suffocating because of the scope and I cried a little. I heard the monitor beeping a lot and someone talking, but before I knew it I fell asleep again. Afterwards I asked the doctor if I woke up and he said yes. I still remember and that was when I was 13.

I feel safe knowing there are Doctors like you.❤❤❤❤

I remember I was in this state after wisdom teeth surgery right after it finished and they were rolling me back to my mom. All I could see was like a slight purple sensation but I could tell I was moving, was kind of cool, I bit the nurse's finger afterwards.

I remember hearing this happened to a guy and it was painful and for hours, when he finally came to, he was distraught for the rest of his life. It’s literal torture to the highest degree

I experienced this when i donated part of my liver to my mum. The pain was unbearable and severe breathing issues but i am happy i saved mum's life.

Thank you man, you just unlocked in me a new fear

I went in to have my daughter by c section and things were fine then I felt them cutting me open I started crying and screamed to stop bc I can feel them cutting me. They stopped immediately and said what do you feel I said I can feel the cut from left to right and I'm sure I did bc as soon as I said that they put me fully to sleep. It felt like stinging times a thousand the pain was horrible I'll never forget it. The pain of being cut open was horrific

The famous NAP5 audit in 2014 found that, in the United Kingdom, the incidence of awareness under anaestheia was 1 in 19,000. This varies greatly depending on the type of surgery, with emergency C-sections having the highest risk (1 in 600). For surgery not requiring neuromuscular blockade, the risk is 1 in 136,000. This also depends on the anaesthetist and the surgeon. It's a bit like asking "What's the risk of a bus crashing?" It depends on the driver. It depends on the route. It depends whether the passengers are being disruptive.

Darkness imprisoning me, all that i see, absolute horror

This happened to my mother years ago. At least it was when her knee surgery was almost over, she didn't suffer too long. She did have anxiety and was definitely more than ready to leave the hospital!!! Thankfully she is doing ok

I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which can increase the risk of waking up as anesthesia can work differently on us, but luckily when I had my hysterectomy 10 years ago, my team had knowledge of EDS and took every precaution to keep me safe and comfortable. I haven't woken up during surgery thankfully (the hysterectomy being the one major surgery I've had) but I do bounce back very fast from general anesthesia and wake up very fast. I also remember a lot of details up until the point of falling asleep. With my hysterectomy I woke up as I was transferred over from the operating table to my bed to be rolled out to recovery, and I was chatting with the nurses as I was rolled out of the operating room. Twilight anesthesia doesn't work on me at all, and for pain management it takes very potent medicines, and while normal patients might get knocked out from said medicines, I may read a book

Thank Goodness for technology like BIS monitors and other monitoring! 😅 All the surgeries I’ve done… super painful recovery. I can’t even imagine the pain and terror during…. I already have PTSD from trauma. Don’t need it worse.

I’ve woken up during surgery once and remember the tube down my throat and the dr stitching me up then putting a cast on my leg then the next thing was the anesthesiologist was pulling the tube out saying oh shit he’s awake, then I passed out and woke up 2 hrs later in post op recovery and the dr asked me how long I was awake and I told him it was right around when you were beating the stein man rod into my leg and sewing me up yet I didn’t feel any pain I just remember hearing and seeing everything, yet I have no ptsd or any ill effects from it

I have to have a tooth removed in a few months and I’m going to be asleep for it. And now I’m 50x more horrified…

Thankfully my Ortho puts me waaay under for my spine surgeries! The 1st one was too much, the proposal suppressed my breathing for 5 days! They adjusted it for the most recent one and I am doing much better, alert and way less pain. Waking during surgery is my nightmare, I think I would just die!

Thanks for boosting my one fear ten folds

I woke up during my first Breast Biopsy (obviously I was not under General Anesthesia) but I woke up and was watching them work lol One of them realized this and I remember him saying “Um guys…. she’s awake! lol” and without moving their heads their eyes moved from my Chest to my face. They said I smiled, asked if one of them could push up my glasses (that I obviously wasn’t wearing lol) My Dr says slowly “sure” I smiled again, said thanks and fell back asleep 😂 See in post-op I woke up to Both Docs & the Anesthesiologist asking “How are you feeling? “ I’ve had enough Surgery to know that’s not normal! I’ve never seen my Dr in post op! I thought it was a dream till they told me what had happened! And that Lumpectomy went fine. It was Benign 😊 it was 1993. In 2003 however it was Cancer. In 2013 it was Cancer! It’s 2023. I’m a little nervous tbh

Mr. Ballen did a story on this well somewhat like this what happened to a male patient that was having exploratory surgery way back and I believe the '60s the anesthesiologist I guess there's two drugs you administrate one the first one is the paralyzing one the second one is the sleeping one this man did not get the sleeping one at all he felt and actually saw a part of his operation because he was wiggling his eyes back and forth so hard to try to get the tape off for someone to notice that he's awake no one ever noticed but when they did notice they decided to administrate a drug that makes you forget everything I don't remember what it was called so they gave him this medication and then knock them out with the other drug well the guy went home and started having flashbacks and PTSD and horrible nightmares and he didn't know where they were coming from because of the drug they gave him two months or weeks I'm not sure I can't remember after this man experience this ordeal he ended up shooting himself in the head. If you follow Mr Ballen I'm sure you've heard that story if not go look them up on RU-vid and find the story it's horrific.

Thankyou for the absolute fear of any surgery...

LESS THAN ONE IN A THOUSAND? I know the chances are low, but 1:1000 is a common occurrence with so many surgeries going on

Oh, well, this explains why I was able to feel my entire emergency C-section. Everyone told me I was crazy and there's no way I could have felt anything because I was unconscious. I was definitely not unconscious. Terrified, traumatized, mentally scared, and left with night terrors for 4 months after my son was born, but I was definitely not unconscious.

I WAS THE 1 IN 1,000 who experienced this. I was having the first of 2 vitrectomies (eye surgeries) on my left eye. I had ordered my surgical records from a procedure that I had a few years prior because I wanted the anesthesiologist to avoid using fentanyl, I have a low tolerance for it, although it was mixed with something else. I have had eye surgery with my specialist below without a hitch. Good day, NICE vibe with the nurse, anesthesiologist , doctor, and myself. Went under while with M. J. singing in the background. I woke up during the surgery. I could hear the 3 of them talking, I could hear music and then I felt PAIN. I thought , let me move my foot and they'll know that something is wrong BUT that didn't work. I thought, ok, move your right hand ,but no one seemed to notice. I realized in my mind that I was moving but not in reality. As I felt him slicing and maneuvering inside my eye, I screamed inside my body because I realized that I was "trapped" inside of my body and enduring TORTURE. When I "screamed" , I heard my heart rate increase and the nurse yell,"Her blood pressure is going up!". Mind you, I don't have high blood pressure, so I was given more anesthesia and I went back out.BUT ,B-A-Y-B-A-Y ( in my best New Orleans accent) when they woke me up, I woke up saying things that made Satan blush. I had known my specialist for ten years and we have a rapport yet he had never heard me curse , let alone the choice of words that I used. And after all of that , my dear doctor offered me Tylenol 3 for pain, which I refused because it 1- doesn't get rid of my pain and 2-causes me to get sick. He told me via the nurse that that was all he could give me. I told the nurse to tell him ,"Keep it! What good is Tylenol going to do for me if it doesn't address my pain and makes me ill?" At my follow-up the next morning, I advised him that if a patient has a drug issue they would keep their own stash or know where they can get their fix - whether an addict or occasional user they can find what they need and would have had their "stuff" waiting for them at home not relying on him.

I knew about this many years ago before social media so I had the anesthesiologist tie a tourniquet around my right arm before administering the anesthesia so I could wiggle my fingers in case i woke during surgery...and I did.

I had it happening, but I thankfully remembered beeping of maschienes and distant voices but that was all. I only know that it actually happened and wasn't only a dream or something, because I worked at that hospital and could see the doctors notes in the archive where me slightly waking up was documented. It was an operation, that was unexpectedly longer and more complicated btw, that's why the meds had to be recalculated midway